


Light of the Holiday

by StarGirl11, visionaryScribe



Series: Connected Curses [6]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Bad Parents Alador Blight and Odalia Blight, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Connected Curses-au, Cursed Luz Noceda, Dysfunctional Family, Edas a mom and fully has accepted it, F/F, Family Drama, Fictional Holidays, Fluff, Gen, Good Friend Willow Park, Good Girlfriend Amity Blight, Good Parent Camila Noceda, Good Parent Eda Clawthorne, Good Parent Lilith Clawthorne, Insecure Luz Noceda, Liliths a Mom she just hasn't figured it out yet, Luz Noceda Angst, Luz Noceda Needs a Hug, Medical Conditions, Monsters, New Years, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Eda Clawthorne, Taking Liberties with Glyph Magic, Witch Curses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28246734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarGirl11/pseuds/StarGirl11, https://archiveofourown.org/users/visionaryScribe/pseuds/visionaryScribe
Summary: The festive holidays weren't the first holidays that Luz had experienced on her time in the Isles. She had been there for the Coronation Anniversary, the 30 days where the sun hadn't set, the Isles version of Halloween. To say the least she had some decent experience with holidays it felt like. But this time something felt different about the upcoming fesitivites and not entirely in a good way.ORLuz begins to understand why the Boiling Isles version of Christmas is so important to them, even more so then the human realm.
Relationships: Amity Blight & Lilith Clawthorne, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Lilith Clawthorne, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, Lilith Clawthorne/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Connected Curses [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989874
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65
Collections: Disability in characters, Eda and Luz are family, Lilith & Amity as a Family, Merry Christmas!





	1. Last Light

**Author's Note:**

> And after a surprise hiatus thanks to getting sick. I'm finally back.
> 
> I got hit by a Christmas fic writing mood while still sick. Which surprised me because I am 100 percent not the type to write this kind of stuff. To be clear I love Christmas....I just don't usually write Christmas fics. And since this was the AU that's the most established I went with this. Not sure if I will use the same ideas elsewhere or not.
> 
> Anyways enoguh

Luz over her six months on the Isles had experienced her fair share of festivities. Some more somber, some more upbeat. But before now she hadn’t really experienced anything that came with such a feeling of trepidation. 

It was such a stark contrast to the anniversary of the eve of Belos’ coronation only a couple of weeks back that Luz was having such a hard time wrapping her head around it. Before now, she hadn’t really seen anything that the community seemed to fear. But that really was the best way she could describe the atmosphere that surrounded the final hours of the year before the sun disappeared for thirty days.

Luz guess she understood to an extent. Thirty days with no sun did seem a bit freaky. It was not something she had experienced herself before. Her house wasn’t anywhere near the Artic Circle back on Earth. But still considering just how powerful some of the creatures were, how powerful Eda was, it did kind of surprise her.

Though it was telling that Eda had been reluctant to let her go into town when the Reyes had called to ask if she could do emergency babysitting. Eda for all her griping about the Reyes twins when they had been at The Owl House the last time didn’t really mind the Reyes, though Luz knew she would never admit the entire affair to anyone if asked. So for Eda to have actually been visibly reluctant to let her leave was telling and it really only had happened because Mrs. Reyes had assured Eda that if it started to get close to sundown, she would give her a ride back on her own staff. 

So to say the least, Luz knew something was definitely different this time around. Though she was having a hard time fully understanding  _ what _ .

Luz stood up from her seat on the floor next to one of the Reyes twins, Victoria, as Mrs. Reyes came into the sitting room area in the late afternoon. “Thank you again for watching the children while I did a final run. I do not enjoy going shopping at the last minute. However, I had thought Lucius had got the last supplies we needed for the next month. I will need to be more careful next year, that is for certain.”

Luz gave a dismissive wave at that. “It’s not a problem. Like I’ve said in the past, they’re good kids.” Well, usually anyway. Luz had seen the temper and issues that had led to the Reyes’s going through multiple babysitters. But having been in the outcast role before, even if it was entirely different for her, if anything the problems had only made her want to get to know the kids more, not less. 

Mrs. Reyes gave a small warm smile at that. “It is nice to hear someone take a genuine liking to them. I do wish more saw it that way.” 

Luz said nothing to that. The difficulty of retaining a babysitter for the twins before Luz had met them was a well-discussed matter. Though she had never admitted it partly why she was attached to the twins was because she understood what it was like to be viewed oddly. Though admittedly those were different situations, apparently the understanding comradery had been enough for the twins to latch onto her very early on. “Like I said they’re good kids.” Glancing in the window's direction. “I should probably get going though if I want to make it home before dark though.”

“Yes, the last thing you need to be is get caught out in the dark this time of year.” Mrs. Reyes agreed. “Though this brings up something I was wondering about. I must admit that I am surprised that you are not going back to Earth during the month.” Mrs. Reyes noted after a slight pause as they moved towards the front door of the house. 

“I technically should still be in school this time of year. And Mom is saying I’m at ‘boarding school’ since no one back home would even begin to believe the actual truth. Me being back on Earth would cause more problems than not.” Luz explained. She would be going home for the family reunion, but that was just for the day. The rest of the time she would be on the Isles. Sure it would have been safer to go back to Earth, and she was sure her Mami would have preferred that. However, it would have caused even more problems for her to go home. 

Besides, at the very least with her Mami’s work, it would be kind of lonely if she went back home. Not that she would say that because she knew her Mami would feel guilty if she admitted that. And it wasn’t like she was used to it having done it before... but she did like the companionship that came with Eda, not having to work the same odd hours as her Mami did. So she was staying on the Isles. Even if there was definitely something going on with the coming weeks that Luz didn’t fully understand. 

Eda had promised to explain to her at some point what the Aeterna Nocte actually was and everything revolving around it. Including why people seemed to hunker down for the duration of an entire month. However, Eda had been too busy with her own preparations to do that yet. So there was a slight disconnect for Luz because she still didn’t fully understand anything involving the coming month. 

“Oh dear, it really is later than I realized.” Mrs. Reyes said to herself, looking out the door for a moment at the sun that was slowly lowering itself on the horizon. “Let me get my staff and I will give you a ride home.”

Luz frowned at that, wondering where this was coming from. It wasn’t like she hadn’t gotten back to The Owl House late on a couple of occasions after all. She got that something was different today, but she didn’t really understand why she couldn’t keep her normal routine. “It’s okay, I can walk home.” 

Mrs. Reyes shook her head at that. “No, Edalyn would have my head if I allowed that and for good reason. Trust me, you do not want to be out once the sun goes down.”

* * *

Eda was waiting at the front door of The Owl House when they touched down a short while later. A look of concern quickly morphing into relief. “You cut it awfully close kid.”

“Do not blame her. Her arrival is mostly on me.” Mrs. Reyes cut in before Luz could protest or Eda could start a lecture. “I am afraid that I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get the last needed supplies.”

That did nothing to make Eda happier instead it just redirected her agitation to the other witch. This was actually why she hadn’t wanted Luz to go over at all. “Well, you’re back before sundown at least.” She finally settled on. “Go on ahead and go in Luz I just want a quick chat with Mrs. Reyes here.”

Eda waited to make sure Luz was inside the house before turning to the other witch. “I’m sorry I know you said you really need to do this run, but I am having a hard time fully believing it.” Finally, letting her agitation be seen on full display. 

Mrs. Reyes cocked an eyebrow at that. “I was not exaggerating when I said I needed to shop earlier, I can assure you Edalyn. I made the rather unfortunate discovery this morning that we didn’t quiet account for all the changes that have happened within the past year. The shopping run was not for pleasure, I assure you. Finding candles this late before the start is rather difficult, I found out.”

Eda deflated a bit at that. Well, she couldn’t fault the other witch entirely then. And she knew full well why Luz was the one called upon, even if she might not still have been the fondest of what had happened. “Sorry. I just worry about the kid. Most know we have to be careful for the next month. But with her being unfamiliar with the territory, I’m worried how she’s going to handle it.”

Mrs. Reyes gave a dismissive wave at that. “It is fine. I know how protective you are of her though like I said the circumstances were unforeseen and should not happen again.” Would not happen again, she silently added. She would make sure that this time next year they were stocked well ahead of time. At least they had caught it before nightfall. That could have been disastrous. 

“Were you able to get the supplies at least?” Eda asked. Wondering for a moment if she had an extra candle to spare if they needed it. Luz would be heartbroken if something happened to any of the Reyes.

“I will not say it was easy, but yes we did. Thank you for asking.” Mrs. Reyes gave a reassuring smile. “Though I should probably get going. If I leave any later, I risk getting caught outside once the long nights begin.”

Eda nodded. “Safe travels and look forward to seeing everyone again on the New Year.”

“Likewise.” Mrs. Reyes said before kicking off.

Eda watched her go for a minute before stepping into the house and closing the door behind her. She still had some last preparations to do before she could relax. But having Luz back helped significantly. 

* * *

Luz stared curiously as she watched Eda light the candle and place it in a seal of the window of The Owl House. She had followed Eda around for the last hour, watching as the other witch made various preparations. Traditions and holidays and what not always fascinated her, especially on the Boiling Isles, so she had been more than curious to see what Eda was getting up to. And hopefully finally getting some answers on what had everyone so on edge as well. “So what is this supposed to do, anyway?” 

“Ward off any intruders that may come with the long nights.” Eda answered. Luz frowned in confusion, not quiet understanding the answers. 

This didn’t sound like Eda was referencing someone on the Isles as her thoughts shifted to Earth and the realm of the dead. Remembering a discussion the previous summer during the hottest days of the year when her Mami hadn’t been able to come visit and how the walls that naturally separated the different realms thickened and thinned depending on the time of the year. Luz supposed this was the opposite of the past summer, but Eda’s reaction to this confused her. She hadn’t seemed this worried during the summer, or during the fall for that matter, when the realm of the dead’s walls were supposedly the thinnest. The latter of which seemed the most likely culprit, even if it made little sense to Luz. 

“I thought the time the veil was thinnest was a month ago?” Luz asked.

“It was, but that’s because the realm of the dead is a bit unique in that respect.” Eda explained. “Earth, the Boiling Isles, and the land of the dead are all realms that are interconnected on some level. However, they aren’t the only realms out there. Eleven months of the year this isn’t a problem since normally transporting between realms is impossible without something special like my portal door. However, this time of year the walls separating the worlds thin enough to cause problems and have monsters of all sorts of sizes come knocking.”

“Monsters?” Luz’s face contorted in confusion, deciding to latch onto part of the explanation for a moment to try to keep from getting overwhelmed. Eda must have been referencing something she wasn’t quite fully understanding. From her perspective in some ways the Boiling Isles residents were technically ‘monsters’ at least compared to what existed on Earth. So what kind of monsters was Eda talking about?

“These are...different from anything around here.” Eda said after a moment, seeming to realize Luz’s confusion on the matter. “I’ll dig out some books that supposedly illustrate them so you can see for yourself. For now though, just understand that even demons and witches have stuff they fear, kid. The tales from those who were lucky enough to encounter one and survive are enough that even Belos wasn’t able to shake us of the traditions involving the Aeterna Nocte.” Just because Eda could probably take one in a fight, didn’t mean she wanted to find out the hard way. 

“So what does the candle do then?” Luz said, staring at the candle again. It looked like any other normal candle to her outside of its purple and gold coloring. But then again, this was the Boiling Isles. Maybe they provided some sort of protection? 

“Think of them as protection spells.” Eda answered. “When someone or something crosses over experience has said this will provide safety to those within range of the candle. In this case, the house. Hooty does a good job in the night but it's here to help give a hand. Plus, he needs his own rest occasionally as well.” 

“Wait, is this why we aren’t in school this month?” Luz asked. Wondering for a moment just why the candles didn’t work at Hexside. Maybe because of the size of the building?

Eda nodded at the question. “Hmhm. Much like during the Eternal Days, traveling during the month and large gatherings are discouraged, at least until the tail end of it. Though admittedly that’s for different reasons then, like right now. And since school would involve both of them, it's considered too dangerous. So rather than cause danger and worry, all the schools just don’t have classes.”

“And here I thought it was because the school just finally had a break.” Luz muttered. Hexside as she had realized had school most of the year. Something that didn’t bother her too much. But it had meant that it had surprised her when she had heard they got an entire month off. Something she had looked forward to at first. Before she knew what was attached to it, apparently.

Eda couldn’t help the small chuckle at that. “You should know by now that nothing around here is just as simple as what it seems.” Standing up and stretching for a moment. “Come on, lets see if I can’t find a book for you to read while I finish up the last few things.”

* * *

“Enjoying the reading kid?” Luz looked up from the book Eda had leant her on the history of the Aeterna Nocte as Eda came up from the basement. Eda had left her to her own devices after she had set the candle up, saying she had a few more things she had to do before it got too late into the night.

“It's definitely interesting. I’m kind of surprised I didn’t hear about any of this at school though.” Luz admitted with a frown.

“I’m not.” Eda said. “Everyone, and I do mean everyone, grows up on stories about the thirty days. Either from legend or from family stories. Most take for granted that an outsider like yourself wouldn’t know anything about the legends surrounding this month.” She sure had at first. “So Bump probably would see it as repetitive to have them go over it in class. Outside of maybe some ‘baby class’ lectures.”

“Yeah that makes sense.” Luz agreed. Not for the first time wondering what she might be missing out on just because she didn’t grow up on the Isles. 

Something Eda seemed to catch on. “Remind me in the next day or two to go through and fill in what Hexside apparently isn’t covering. Now with us both not really being able to go anywhere for a while, no time like the present, I suppose. Could throw in some even family legends that I know you like so much.”

Luz practically lit up at that. Eda didn’t talk much about family stories besides miscellaneous stories about her and Lilith growing up. So it always excited her when Eda actually expanded on old legends. “That sounds great!”

“In the meantime, you got any questions so far?” Eda asked, motioning at the near forgotten book.

“No, well, not yet, at least. I’m still kind of absorbing it all. Though I’m surprised a bit, some of it sounds a lot like old Norse mythology, actually.” Luz noted after a moment. Didn’t the Norse believe that there were seven realms or something like that? She guessed that could have come from here. Though she didn’t remember if the Norse myths ever talked about strange creatures from other worlds walking around for thirty days on Earth. Maybe that was just a Boiling Isles thing, though. “Not the entire realm divides and the walls things but the multiple realms. Though I think they have a lot fewer realms than this.” Luz added as she stared at the graphic on the page showing a list of the different realms. 

“Huh interesting.” Eda noted. She hadn’t realized any part of the myth surrounding this month had leaked over into the human realm. But then again, it really shouldn’t have surprised her. Technically, anything could probably leak over. “Do you know if they lose the sun for thirty days as well?”

“I think some of it does?” Luz answered. “I’m not entirely sure how many does or doesn’t get these kind of nights. But I think I remember hearing parts of it do.” Geology on Earth may not have been her strongest subject, but she was pretty sure she had heard somewhere that parts of Norway went without sun for a period?

“Well then, that’s probably why they have some parts of the myth then.” Eda noted sagely. To her at least it made sense that some part of Earth that experienced the same kind of long nights they did. Would share the same ‘myths’ they did. Of course, in their case, they really weren’t myths. 

“Oh, hey auroras.” Luz blinked in surprise as she noted seeing the sky was glowing with colors from behind Eda.

“Auroras?” Eda frowned in confusion. Before following Luz’s gaze and seeing the lit up night sky. “Shit, they’re early this year. Hooty-”

“I see it. Are we ready?” Hooty’s muffled voice could be heard.

“As we’ll ever be when they come.” Eda said. “Ya know the drill.”

Luz looked between the closed door and Eda in confusion. “They?”

“You remember the otherworldly visitors I mention we get?” Eda asked, waiting for Luz to nod. “Well, that-” Eda motioned at the colors dancing across the sky at the moment. “-means they’re on the way over.”

Luz frowned, feeling even more confused. “The aurora? Eda I don’t know about around here, but back home that’s just the Sun interacting with our atmosphere. In other words, it's just a really pretty light show.”

Eda couldn’t help the small snort at that. “Yeah, no, that’s not all for show for here. That indicates the walls are thin enough right now to allow passage from the other realms. Normally they’re not this early though…”

Oh well, that put this into a whole new perspective. Though Luz supposed she should have seen them coming. “Is them being early going to be a problem?” Luz asked, glancing out the window again though the aw was gone, replaced with a sense of dread and foreboding.

Eda waved off the concern. “Nah, don’t worry about it. I always make sure I’m set on the first day. Them being early is a bit unnerving, but we’re all ready for it.” And unusual, when was the last time this had happened? Something to bug Lilith about later, she supposed.

The early arrival wasn’t a concern for her at least. It might end up being for someone who was used to the usual quiet on the first night, but for Eda? Who made sure she was ready for the monsters whenever they decided to show themselves? The arrival was a non-issue.

Eda had learned to be self reliant over the years when the sun disappeared and to be ready for early arrivals as soon as possible, even if before now she hadn’t had to really worry about it. With how far away from the center of town she was, she simply had to be. So she might take more precautions than the average family to protect her home. But it wasn’t without good reason either. She just hoped too many weren’t caught too off guard by a first night arrival of the monsters.

“Isn’t there anything that can be done to make this whole thing better?” Luz asked, frowning for a moment breaking Eda out of her thoughts. Eda’s acceptance of the matter felt almost unusual. Maybe because it seemed to go further back than everything with Belos?

Eda shrugged at that question. “It’s the natural order of the realms, kid. If there’s a way to stop it, no one knows and it's long been decided that you can’t just easily mess around with it. Even if it would be for our own protection, we’ve learned just to live with it.” Seeing the slightly skeptical look on Luz’s face, she continued after a moment. “I mean, okay, there are rumors that early on in Belos’ reign that he tried to do something to make things better, thicken the walls between realms, supposedly. But if he did do something, it only made it worse.” Much worse, in fact. Those had been some particularly dark Aeterna Noctes. 

“Wait, if it's just a rumor then how do you think it happened?” Luz asked the confusion returning yet again. 

“Theories mainly, but there was a few years early in his reign where the monster attacks were worse than normal. Started earlier than normal, not as early as this year though.” Eda explained, glancing back out the window with a frown again. Seriously, why were they this early this year? “Or that’s what I’ve heard, anyway. This was all back when I was too young to remember any of this. But I remember people talking about it some as I got older. Not a lot like to talk about those years nowadays though.”

The long nights weren’t usually the happiest times to begin with. But those years had been particularly rough on the Isles. So people tended to just simply not like to discuss that time. What little Eda knew about that time period came from Lily. And the only reason Lily even knew what she did was because she was so interested in the isles history. 

“Have you ever seen what these things actually look like?” Luz asked.

“Me? Nah. The candles do a pretty good job of scaring them off whenever I do venture out this time of year.” Eda said. “Like you, I’ve never seen anything beyond the illustrations the books have. And maybe occasionally shadowy figures. King on the other hand has.”

“Wait, really? When did that happen?” Luz asked, both surprised and confused. Considering how proactive and protective Eda had been about making sure she didn’t get caught outside, Luz was a bit surprised it had happened to King. Maybe the reason Eda was so proactive was because of an experience of King? That wouldn’t surprise her considering some of King’s antics. 

Eda looked momentarily confused herself before she realized something. “Huh forgot we never told you how King and I first met.” Eda said, blinking in surprise. “Admittedly, there’s not much of a story to tell since King still won’t tell me how he ended up here in the first place beyond ‘monsters chasing me’ and Hooty letting him in. But yeah, we ended up meeting because Hooty let him while he was running away from a group of those monsters.” 

Luz had always wondered how Eda and King had met. She wasn’t surprised it somehow involved King getting saved by Eda. With the amount of trouble the demon got into, that was the least surprising aspect of the entire conversation. Though that raised another question for her. “Why was he out in the first place when I thought you said people aren’t really supposed to go out right now?”

“Not sure, like I said, he won’t talk about it.” Eda noted with a shrug. “All I do know is that he didn’t have anywhere else to go. So I said he could stay here until the New Year. Well, what started out as a temporary situation is still going nearly ten years later.”

Luz opened her mouth to ask another question, only to stop when she heard a low growling noise coming from outside the house. A small chill ran down her spine. 

Eda was frowning, looking towards the front of the house. “Was hoping they might start over near Boneheads place. No luck, I guess.” Though it was odd. While she and Hooty were used to being on alert as soon as the bridge appeared. They rarely had to worry about monsters for a day or two after the first appearance of the bridge.

“Do they usually start over there?” Luz asked curiosity, winning out over her fear for a moment.

Eda nodded. “Not entirely sure why they do, but it’s usually Bonehead’s place. Not that they can ever get in. Guess they decided to change things up this year for some reason.” It was becoming more apparent that she really needed to talk to Lily about this. What was causing all these odd changes this year? 

“They can’t get in right?” Luz asked worriedly. Sure no one could tell her exactly what these things looked like. But everything suggested something nasty, and that growling, howling noise she could make out in the distance was definitely not helping the matter.

Eda gave Luz’s head a reassuring pat. “Don’t worry about it, kid. I know what I’m doing. You don’t live through enough of these alone without having an idea on how to plan. They might raise some hackles, but they aren’t getting into the house itself. I promise.” 


	2. Deck The Halls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to decorate the Clawthorne houses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way longer than I anticipated. Hopefully, the length of this chapter makes up for the wait. Enjoy and please remember to leave a comment!
> 
> And yeah I did change the story's title because this fits better.

“She was a bit freaked out on the first night. But she seems to have adjusted to the situation well at least, all things considered.” Eda said. Really, she wasn’t entirely sure if one could ever fully get used to living with having monsters knocking at your door for thirty days straight. Even with having grown up dealing with this year after year, she still had yet to embrace it.

Like other parts of living on the Isles. Just because it was there. Didn’t mean she had to like it.

It had been three days since the sun had set for the last time that year. And things were mostly par for the course in The Owl House for the time of year. The only real adjustment Eda had to make was making sure Luz’s own sleep cycle didn’t get too far off. Just like when there was no night, having no day could mess with you, in her experience.

Eda wasn’t sure if it was a bird beast thing… Luz was certainly not having the same issues with the nights like her and Lily tended to have. Though she supposed it could also be attributed to Fortunata. 

However, that was also probably behind the other issue Luz was facing. Adjusting to the ever coming and going presence of the night lurkers. With how quick Luz  _ usually _ was to adapting to things, it was a bit surprising it had taken her this long to get used to the night lurkers. Eda wasn’t sure if it dealt with Fortunata or with the mystery involving the creatures. Much of them was surrounded with mystery. Most alive, having never seen one up close and personal to live and tell the tale. Eda herself had yet to see what they looked like. If she got ‘lucky’ she might catch a glimpse of something lurking in the shadows, but that was the most of it.

“So what are you and the kid planning, anyway? I imagine whatever it is, is bound to be quite the shift from the Manor.” Eda asked.

Not that the difference between lives in the different houses was really new. Though Eda wasn’t going to deny, her curiosity was genuinely peaked more than usual when it came to the Blights and their celebration of one of the Isles’ biggest holidays. 

Even maybe more than normal when it came to the Blights. She was curious about this holiday. Maybe she was being nosy. However, she really did genuinely want to know what previous Light Day Celebrations at the Blight household had been like.

At least to her, Odalia seemed to be exactly the type to buy the most intricate best protective charms for the holiday. Only the ‘best for the best’ after all. Another part of her was just wondering how Lilith might try to ‘show up’ Odalia. Even if Lilith would deny to the grave that was what she was doing. 

“You could say that.” Lilith agreed with a slight touch of hesitation. Eda quirked an eyebrow at Lilith’s choice of words and tone. “It will definitely differ from what happened at the Blight Manor. Since apparently Amity has never had a Light Day celebration before.” Lilith admitted a bit slowly. “None of the Blight children have.” 

Eda blinked in surprise and shock at the statement, not entirely believing Lilith at first. “Not at all. No decorations, no presents, nothing?” Trying to wrap her head around the idea. For the issues with their own parents, they had even still done this. The idea of not celebrating the holiday at all was a foreign concept to her brain. Lilith shook her head again. “Not even when they were younger?”

Lilith’s lips pursed in disapproval. “No, apparently they do not even remotely celebrate the holiday. Odalia apparently doesn’t ‘see the need’.” Lilith shook her head in disbelief after a moment, recalling a conversation she had had previously with the Reyes about what Emira had said. “Emira said the closest they ever came to celebrating it was hanging the wreath above the altar. But beyond that, nothing according to the twins. And judging by how difficult Amity made shopping for me before the nights started.” Admittedly, by accident, she realized in hindsight. “This will really be their first Light Day celebrations.”

And of course they both knew already how Amity’s birthday normally went. It technically was on the winter solstice. However, because her parents usually used any excuse to throw a party. It had never been celebrated properly on the day. Rather, it usually was part of a ball event of some sort after the sun finally rose again at the start of the new year.

“You know, I am not sure why I am even surprised by this. This sounds exactly like something they would do.” Eda said after a moment. It made too much sense, really.

Someone as snooty as Odalia and Alador would definitely feel the whole celebration of Light Day would be entirely redundant. They had probably assumed that their safety was secure. Something that probably was mostly true considering their normal standing. 

Still, no celebration of the holiday...Eda shook her head at that, wondering for a moment if that’s how the Blights had always behaved. Or if something else was at play. It really didn’t matter, she supposed. Knowing Lilith, she had something up her sleeve to hopefully make up for the lost years. “So I’m guessing then you’re planning something for your kid?” Eda said, finally breaking the silence again. 

Lilith nodded at the question. “Yes. Amity has had some trouble sleeping these past couple of days. So I had been holding off on it.” The last thing she had wanted was Amity being too tired or too wired to actually enjoy the festivities. She had seemed a bit less restless this morning, at least. So hopefully the curse had relented enough to let her actually get some sleep. “Hopefully, we can finally start putting them up today. I just hope that whatever I have is enough.”

For some reason, making sure that a child who had never decorated had enough to spread the cheer was somehow more daunting than making sure everything was in order for someone who routinely celebrated the holiday. Maybe it was because she was trying to help Amity makeup for all of those lost years?

“Anyway, I’m sure whatever you do for your kid will be more than enough.” Eda assured her. 

Certainly anything would beat nothing after years of apparently not celebrating the holiday. Geeze, they might have had issues within their house growing up at times. Eda wasn’t going to deny that. The presentation of the curse was an excellent example of that. But hey at least they had still celebrated the holiday. 

“She’s my student, not my child Edalyn.” Lilith tried to argue.

“Sure Lily.” Eda said with a bit of skepticism clear. More than used to the argument at this point.

Even as she wondered if Lily remembered, she would technically break protocol for the girl so they could go to Luz’s family reunion.

Lily may still be in denial at the moment, but she had adopted Amity about as much as Eda had in some ways adopted Luz. She just had yet to realize it, apparently. Ah well, it wasn’t like Lily needed to figure that out right this minute at least.

* * *

Once she got done talking to Lilith, Eda headed into the basement of The Owl House and started bringing up the decorations. The only reason she hadn’t brought it up earlier to Luz was she wanted the kid to get settled a bit before breaking out the decorations. If the kid was on edge by the change in environment, then she was more than likely not to fully enjoy the activities.

“Wow, when did you get that?” King’s voice brought Eda out of her thoughts as she pulled the last of the decoration supplies from the closet. A large magical pine tree floating just off the ground. 

“Oh, the last time you were both out I took the time to stop by the Parks.” Eda explained as she set the tree down upright on the floor. “Willow really wanted to be the one that gave the tree to all of her friends rather than having us go looking. ‘Planters pride’ or something like that.” 

It had saved her a bunch of work, at least of finding a tree in the nearby forest. And really, you could see Willow’s handiwork in it that she was sure the kid was going to love. 

“Surprised with how twitchy you usually get that you waited this long to pull it out.” King’s comment broke Eda out of her thoughts. Referencing past years where usually the decorations were up by the first ‘morning’. This time around, only a few had been strung out. 

Eda shrugged at that. “I figured the kid would want in on this, and I wanted her settled before I pulled it out. Camila said she absolutely loves these kinds of holidays.” In fact, she had been able to convince Camila to hand over some of Luz’s decorations to put up around the house. Though it had come with the promise that she would return all of them as soon as the holidays were over. But Eda figured Luz might enjoy a small piece of home on the Boiling Isles. 

“Well, hopefully she’s in the mood. I know she was shifted to Fortunata this morning.” King commented, breaking Eda out of her own thoughts.

Eda frowned at that. She hadn’t anticipated Luz that might be in Fortunata mode today, at all. “Do you know why she shifted?” Some part of her hoped it was just because the kid had gotten cold. It was a chilly day after all, if the snow outside was any sign. But the weather might not be the only reason Luz had shifted.

Sometimes the kid shifted just because it was easier to deal with the symptoms of her funky little problem in her wolf form. Sometimes she did it because she was in the mood. Eda would really like for the decorations to get started today, so she was hoping the kid was up to it today versus later. 

King shook his head at that. “No. By the time I woke up, she was already sleeping on the bed as Fortunata.”

Well, that wasn’t very helpful. Guess she was going to hope for the best. Eda reasoned as she walked up the stairs. Knocking on the door, waiting a second before poking her head in. Sure enough, Luz was still in wolf form. 

That probably wasn’t the best sign for her hopes. But she had to ask rather than assume. 

“Hey kid.” Eda called. Waiting for Luz to lift her head in acknowledgment. “I was going to ask if you wanted to help me with something. But I see you’re in Fortunata mode. You feeling up to shifting back or is today one of your ‘one with your wolf’ days?” Eda asked from her spot in the doorway. Watching Luz for a moment, sometimes she shifted into Fortunata just because she felt like it. Sometimes it was one of ‘those days’ where her own chronic illness was flaring. It was near impossible for Eda to tell at a first glance when she was Fortunata so she always waited for Luz to tell her if it was the later. 

Eda watched for a moment before seeing the fur starting to recede. Which was an indicator that Luz was up to being in her human form. So she most likely had just shifted because of the mood or maybe the cold. “I’ll take that as a yes. Why don’t you shift back and meet me downstairs in a few minutes? I think you’ll like to help with what I got planned.”

* * *

“So what was it-” Luz started as she came down the stairs. Only to stop when she caught sight of the large tree in the middle of the living room. “Woah.” 

Eda chuckled at Luz’s surprised face. “Like it? I picked it up at the Parks a couple of days ago.”

“It’s magnificent.” Luz said with a small smile before the second half of the sentence caught up with her. “Wait. Parks? Willow grew this?”

Eda nodded and gave a shrug at that. “Kid was rather insistent on growing it herself and who was I to stop her?”

Luz grinned at that. “Sounds like Willow.” She gave a small frown a moment later though. “But if you had it for a couple of days, why am I just seeing it now?”

“I was waiting for you to settle down a bit before I broke it out and started decorating.” Eda explained, patting the trunk of the tree. “You were kind of restless the past few days kid.”

* * *

Luz winced at that. “Yeah, Fortunata hasn’t been exactly fond of the ‘night critters’.” 

She hadn’t told Eda or anyone else yet and didn’t plan to. But she hadn’t really slept at all the first of the thirty nights. Her wolf side had not taken too easily to the idea that some other worldly beings could slip through to their world at any moment. Even with all the reassurances from Eda. 

“So what’s Light Day, anyway?” Luz asked, trying to get her mind off of everything on the darker side of the thirty nights. 

“Well, from what I understand according to your mother. Our Light Day is similar to your guys’ Christmas. Though we definitely have some aspects that you guys don’t. Just because for us the holiday has a different meaning.” Eda explained. The difference was to be expected, she supposed. After all, people back on Earth didn’t need to worry about surviving the monsters that lurked in the dark for thirty days from what Luz told her. 

Luz blinked a couple of times in surprise. While she had seen the similarities. And knowing things about the Boiling Isles and its connection to Earth. It shouldn’t have surprised her that much. Yet it did. “Huh never thought about the Boiling Isles having Christmas of all things.”

Eda shrugged at that. “Like I said, they  _ are _ different. In terms of meaning from what I gather at the very least. But they do similar traits.” Though Eda could see why Luz was surprised. Light Day was well...unusually light-hearted for the Isles, all things considered. 

“So what  _ is _ the meaning of Light Day then?” Luz asked, even more curious now about the new holiday. As she grabbed what appeared to be some ornament type balls to put up on the tree. “Back on Earth, it’s about celebrating family and giving gifts. And for some celebrating certain religions.”

“Most of that plus its less morbid way of celebrating making it to the halfway point of the thirty nights.” Eda answered. Well, except for maybe the religious part. But then again, there were some sects on the Isles that took the whole idea of Light Day to another level. 

“Are there more morbid ways?” Luz asked curiously. Though knowing the Boiling Isles, there was definitely a yes part to that. 

Eda nodded at that question. “Oh yeah. Though none of them really caught on. Some smaller sects still practice them, though most people won’t touch those rituals. Light Day might be the one thing around here that people prefer celebrating than making it darker.”

“Wait, you told Mami about your guys’ holidays?” Luz asked, finally registering part of what Eda had said and looking back at her in surprise. Considering how much she knew her Mami could have trouble at times with the whole ‘other world’ thing, it surprised her that Eda was able to hold a conversation long enough to get information about the holidays back on Earth.

“Eh, she knows part of the story with our holidays.” Eda admitted. She had exchanged notes with Camila about the various holidays in an effort to better be able to do both holidays at once. “Enough that she was able to help me at least.”

“You didn’t tell her about the monsters did you?” Luz realized. 

Eda hesitated slightly at that before answering. “Well no, your Mom would have had a conniption if she knew what’s involved in some of this.” More so than normal anyway when it came to the Boiling Isles. “So I figured it’s probably better to just wait until the months out before mentioning everything else.”

Luz kind of wondered if they would be able to keep a secret from her Mami. She always seemed to have a seventh sense when it came to this kind of stuff. Though Eda was probably right, might be better to tell her about it after the month was out. 

Deciding it was best to just think about it later, she grabbed another decoration from one of the boxes and held it out for Eda as she asked. “So what do we do with this?”

Eda with worries concerning Luz’s mother and how she might react when she found out what the Boiling Isles was actually like at this time of year. Was more than happy to take the bait for a change of topic. 

Soon enough the topic of how to handle Luz’s mother and the knowledge of what the thirty days were actually like was all but forgotten. 

* * *

Meanwhile, back closer to Bonesborough, Lilith was dealing with a slightly different reaction than she had expected from Amity as she had started to try and begin decorating for Light Day.

Or maybe she should have expected it. For all the girl seemed to like to have a semblance of order, she could be rather spontaneously surprising when she wanted to be. So maybe she had misinterpreted what the girl actually wanted from the holiday.

Lilith frowned, wondering what to do exactly. Wait for Amity to say something, or just act first? The girl still had yet to say a word after she had first “If you don’t want to do this I could just put all of this back-”

“NO-” Amity started surprising both of them with her initial volume finally snapping out of her shock. “Sorry, no. I  _ definitely _ want to do it. I was just surprised. It’s just we never celebrated Light Day back at the Manor.” She honestly hadn’t stopped to think about how things might change now that she was living with Lilith. Sometimes she just forgot about that, if she was being honest.

Though she should have expected that. The Clawthorne household was not the Blight household. Where anything remotely holiday and considered worth the Blight time was always about showing off their status. That was why they had always had one of the biggest New Year parties around. However, her parents had considered other holidays beneath them. They had considered Light Day a ‘trite’ affair because  _ of course _ the Blights would make it through any winter. They always would. There was no need to take part in such a ‘silly childish holiday’.

So until now she hadn’t ever had any real experience with the holiday. At least not at home. Hexside had done some things for the holidays when she was a child before moving into the advanced classes. But that had been  _ years  _ ago now, and it just wasn’t the same. Anything recent was lived vicariously through the stories from her other friends Yet despite this really being foreign territory to her, she really wanted to do it. To her parents it might have been below their status but for Amity, for once she had just wanted to do something that wasn’t just about that.

However, no matter how much she had tried to argue to get them to see that they could use Light Day to their advantage. It just never had been flashy enough. So up until now, all she had done was dream what really taking part in the holiday that everyone talked so highly about was really like. 

“Yes, the Reyes mentioned that the twins had voiced similar experiences when they first started putting up their decorations as well.” Lilith noted rather darkly.

It was really just another reason to dislike Odalia and Alador. Who all things considered, after everything that had happened leading to Amity being in her care, she really didn’t like, anyway. However, that didn’t make it any better that it was just another reason technically speaking.

“You talked to them about this?” Amity asked, a bit surprised. She knew Lilith talked to the elder Reyes who were mentoring Ed and Em, but she hadn’t realized they were apparently swapping notes about things that had happened in the manor when the three of them had still been living there.

“Andromeda was the one to call to tell me actually of your... previous ‘history’ or lack thereof, with the holiday. She wanted to make sure I knew ahead of time because she had found it so ludicrous that neither of you three had ever had a proper celebration of Light Day before.” Lilith explained. 

Oh right, Amity realized. With, Ed and Em living with the Reyes now, they would most certainly have Light Day celebrations now. So it shouldn’t have been too surprising that it had slipped out, that none of them had actually celebrated the holiday before.

Amity looked at the box of decorations back at the tree before flushing in embarrassment. “I gotta admit, I really don’t know how to do this.” 

All she had to go on were stories and pictures. But how good was that when you were doing something first hand for the first time like this? Why was this feeling so overwhelming?

Lilith gave her a reassuring smile. “As long as you stick to the spiraling pattern, there is no real wrong way to do it. But if you feel lost or overwhelmed, I would be happy to help.”

Amity let out an uneasy breath. No real bad way to do it, huh? She picked up one of the orbs in the box Lilith had set out, glancing back at the tree. Uncertainly hanging it on a branch before glancing back at Lilith looking for some sort of approval. A small nod of encouragement before she turned to grab another one.

Soon she was fully engrossed in decoration. Having almost entirely forgotten, Lilith was there as she became engrossed in the task. Who had taken a step back and was letting the girl do as she pleased, snapping the occasional photo?

After all, Lilith had promised herself that Amity’s first real Light Day would be one to remember. And she was going to make sure that they would be able to do just that. 

* * *

By the next afternoon, decorations in both Clawthornes’s houses were up. Though there was just one issue that was still bothering Luz. She scowled in annoyance again, giving half an ear to a comment from Amity over the crystal ball. Why was it so hard to make the light balls glow any color than yellow?

With class out but none of them able to get together right now, all they could do was talk over the crystal ball. Traveling during this time was highly restricted. And Eda had imparted more than once on Luz, that even if Lilith and Amity were safe to travel for the Winter Solstice reunion. That would probably be the only people on the Boiling Isles they saw for the rest of the month. 

So magical group calls was how they usually talked to make up for it. Hogging the crystal ball until someone, usually Lilith, needed the ball for another reason and had to end the call. 

Though admittedly Luz wasn’t paying as much attention to the phone call as she normally did. Too sidetracked by her small side project of trying to make a magical string of lights of different colors.

“What are you messing around with anyway, Luz?” Willow asked, drawing Luz’s attention from the paper for the moment.

“Trying to figure out how to get the light glyphs to be more than one color.” Luz said, chewing on the end of her pencil. Why was this so hard? Growing different colored plants had been easy compared to this entire affair. “Back on Earth, we normally decorate our trees with strands of light. Which we can’t do here because of the lack of the normal electricity.” Luz explained. “But I still kind of wanted to replicate it with magic the issue is-”

“The light glyphs only come in one color.” Willow finished. “Did you try asking Eda?”

* * *

Luz shook her head at the question. “Tried that and tried looking at what books we have on it, and nothing so far.” But then again, those books really didn’t talk about experimenting with glyphs either. At least not the ones they had found so far. 

There was a pause for a moment before Amity was the one to talk. “I hate to maybe suggest this, but  _ maybe _ those glyphs can’t be altered that way?”

Luz scowled at the idea. “But that doesn’t make sense. Why can I change how the plant from a plant glyph looks like but not the light glyph?”

“Magic can just be like that sometimes.” Gus said with a shrug. 

“Don’t let it get you down, Luz. I’m sure if it can be done, you’ll figure it out somehow.” Willow reassured her. “Maybe you just need a break. How long have you been at it?”

“I’m... honestly not sure.” Luz admitted after a moment.

“Since we finished putting up the decorations yesterday.” Eda’s ever so helpful yell came from the kitchen. 

Luz winced, having not fully realized she had been at it that long. Something Willow picked up on. “ _ See, _ that’s what I mean. Take a break I’m sure it will come to you soon enough.”

“Yeah hopefully.” Luz said but finally conceded pushing the papers away for now and trying to focus on the conversation with her friends. Maybe Willow was right, and all she needed was a break from drawing glyphs. Not the first time she had to take this sort of break, anyway. 

* * *

Luz lasted three hours after the call ended before she had gone back to scribbling versions of the Light Glyph on her notebook without success. She knew Willow had probably meant to try the next day. But the lack of success with the project was really annoying her. 

However, rather quickly her glyph problem became the least of her concerns.

Luz had looked up from her sketches when she noticed the flickering of the flame to the candle. If for no other reason, then it was making it harder to sketch the lines of the glyphs. Well, that was new and maybe worrying?

She didn’t know enough about how those candles worked to honestly say for sure either way. 

However, she knew enough to know that the flame going out a second later was almost certainly not a good thing. Luz stared at the spot where the flame had just been a second ago, feeling her stomach bottom out in sheer panic. “Eda!”

Eda’s footsteps came running up the stairs, coming to a stop in the doorway. “What’s wrong-shit.” Eda cut herself off as she saw what was missing, not missing a beat as she called out. “Hooty! One of the candles went out! You know the drill!”

“What are we going to do?” Luz asked, looking up at Eda. Not entirely able to keep the panic out of her voice. Her wolf side had gone on high alert when the flame had gone out. 

“Don’t worry about it. I have some spares downstairs that I can use to replace the old one. One candle going out temporarily won’t do much.” Eda tried to reassure her. Though she could see how panicked the kid was looking. “Though if you want to stick close to me while I grab the new one, I’m not going to protest.”

It was just as much a reassurance for her as it was for Luz. While she didn’t think anything would happen. Hooty had fended off the night critters before, after all, when necessary. She also didn’t want to risk it at the same time. It was better to keep Luz close to her. 

Not entirely surprised when the kid made a grab for her hand, but not saying anything. “You’re handling the candle being out better than I thought you would.” Luz admitted after a moment as they slinked down the stairs after a brief moment of silence. 

“Not the first time it’s happened.” Eda answered. “And well, while it happening is not  _ great _ . It’s not the end of the world.” Eda admitted. “This is exactly why I take so many precautions. So if one thing fails, we don’t have monsters running around the house. Like I told you before, never just rely on one thing if you can when it comes to these nights.”

“Yeah, I know.” Luz bobbed her head, remembering the previous conversations. She guessed it should have been obvious. Eda wouldn’t have let her stay at all if she didn’t think she would be protected. “I guess I just hadn’t thought that included backup candles for some reason…”

“Like I said before, I take precautions. That includes always having a couple of extra candles for exactly this reason.” Eda explained as they walked down the stairs into the Owl House’s basement. Admittedly, usually they weren’t needed, but one nerve wrecking year had been more than enough to teach her the lesson to always have a backup plan. 

“I’m sorry.” Luz broke the silence a moment later.

Eda glanced away from grabbing the candle for a second, noticing the girl was looking guilty before turning her attention back to the task at hand. “What for?”

“It’s got to be my fault the candle went out, right? I was messing around with glyphs after all.” Luz shifted a bit subconsciously.

Eda paused for a moment, choosing her next words carefully. “We don’t know that for sure.” Sure it was a possibility, but with how difficult it could be to understand glyph magic... she was hard pressed to call it the definitive reason behind it. “Though even if it did, don’t worry about it too much. This is what backups are for.” Pulling back the new candle now lit. “Now let’s get this up on your windowsill and call it a night. We can worry about what caused today’s little incident after we’ve had a full night’s sleep.”

Luz hesitated for a moment as she followed Eda back up the stairs, pausing in front of her rooms’ door. Before mustering up the courage and asking. “Um, actually about that, could I possibly sleep in the nest tonight?”

Eda blinked in momentary surprise at the request. “Sure if you want to. Are you shifting to Fortunata as well?”

Luz frowned for a moment, thinking before shaking her head. “No. I think that would make it worse tonight.” She had a feeling if she let the wolf out, she wouldn’t get a wink of sleep. Thus defeating the entire purpose. 

“Alright, well you know the drill. Grab what you need and I’ll see you upstairs in five minutes.” Eda said, waving her off.

It wasn’t the first time Luz had gotten cuddly. Eda and King had both grown to how much she seemed to partake in it. Though usually crashing in the nest was more reserved for being Fortunata, then it was for Luz herself. Eda had been woken up more than once by the snoring wolf. 

She wasn’t entirely surprised either; that it was happening tonight after the candle incident. It was more likely to happen where the kid had been freaked out more than normal. She wasn’t entirely sure what Luz or her wolf found so comforting about the nest. But there was apparently something there if she kept coming back to it.

“Thanks again.” Luz said as she came back out of the bedroom. Arm full of blankets.

“Ya know it’s not an issue kid. Can’t have my apprentice not getting enough sleep if she’s going to change the world.” Eda said with a wink. 

Luz flushed in embarrassment at that as she followed Eda up to her room and settled into the nest. It never did really get old how much Eda would help her at times. 

Sometimes she wondered if she asked too much. Sometimes she worried if Fortunata intruded on everyone else’s lives too much. They all laughed at things like the goose incident a couple of weeks ago. But some little part of her worried that some day the issues with Fortunata might become too much for everyone else.

Luz knew no one would ever say that to her face. However, she just could never shake the worry. 

“Thanks again, Eda.” Luz muttered as she started drifting off under the blankets. 

In the end, all she could really do was hope that she never became too burdensome for the others.

Eda watched Luz for a moment. And only when she was sure the girl was really truly asleep did she frown as the earlier conversation re-invaded her thoughts. What happened tonight really was odd. Despite all her preparations, she would never have guessed that one of the candles would go out. Let alone the one that sat on the windowsill of Luz’s room, of all places. Despite her reassurances to the prior, Luz’s comment about the glyphs  _ might _ be warranted based on her own previous experience with the candles going out.

It had been years since something like this had happened. In fact, the last time it had happened she had been being a bit too blase in her magic use around one of the candles. Something she had quickly learned to reel in. Magic was precious, and during this time of year one had to be careful with how one used it. 

So there might be some merit to the earlier conversation. Especially since Luz’s power levels could fluctuate at times. But if she was really determined, her putting a lot of power behind the light glyphs wasn’t  _ that  _ much of a stretch. And might explain the events of earlier. Though she wasn’t going to tell Luz that. The last thing she needed was for the kid to feel bad. Yet putting too much magic into her work could also explain why Luz was having so much trouble with the Light Glyph, actually. 

Either way, it was a theory best tested in the morning after Luz had rested. 

* * *

Testing the theory though ended up causing more problems than Eda had expected. 

Putting up the dampening spells had been easy enough. Relatively easy anyway. She  _ did  _ have to be careful to make sure they didn’t mess with the protection spells. But it also wasn’t the first time she had done something like this either. It just had been a while.

That hadn’t ended up being an issue. No, what had been an issue was the spell’s effect on Luz’s connection with her wolf.

In a moment that in hindsight she should have seen coming. It cut off most of her connection.

“I know your just trying to help. However, it’s messing with my ability to connect with Fortunata, and I really don’t like it.” Luz had explained when Eda had questioned her about why she looked so out of it this morning. She could still feel her wolf, but the connection was subpar at best. It was like trying to reach it in a tunnel where she normally had no problems. 

“Oh.” Eda said. “Sorry.” She added as she started to carefully undo the spells. She honestly hadn’t thought about the possibility that the dampening spell might mess with that. “I was just trying to see if it could help you with your little glyph problem.”

Luz’s nose wrinkled slightly in confusion. “How?”

“I think you’re putting too much magic into the glyphs somehow.” Eda explained. “Hard to say how, since you’re tapping into the isles themselves. But I was hoping the dampening spell might solve your problem, at least temporarily. I didn’t think about the impact it might have on Fortunata, sorry.” 

Really, she should have seen this coming. They had used dampening spells before to deal with the bird beasts when they were trying something that they really didn’t need them showing up during. It was stupid in hindsight to not think the same spell wouldn’t impact the wolf. 

“It’s okay, I appreciate that you’re trying to help.” Luz said. “But this isn’t the way to do it.” She would rather just give up trying the glyphs then feel disconnected from Fortunata. 

“How did you figure out that I was maybe over powering the spells, anyway?” Luz asked, more than a bit confused. The suggestion seemed to come out of nowhere from Eda’s end. Before Eda could even answer the question, she jumped to her own conclusion. “Wait, was I the reason the candle went out last night?!” 

“Hey, like I said last night it’s okay, we have backups for this reason.” Eda assured her, not missing the rising panic with Luz. And really, she should have seen it coming and warned the kid beforehand. Luz might not have the advantages of a natural born witch, but she had shown time and time again that didn’t matter for her being a natural powerhouse. She should have been more careful about what she had allowed Luz to do. Besides, I made the same mistake one time when I was a bit older than you are.”

“Really?” Luz asked thankfully, slowly relaxing again. Eda nodded. “But then, how come you didn’t warn me before now?”

Eda shrugged. “I made a mistake of underestimating your magic again. I really didn’t think the glyphs would have the same impact on the candle as my magic did. Don’t beat yourself up too much kiddo. It was my mistake more than anything that led to last night. I should have warned you from the beginning that this is a possibility.” 

Her own want for Luz to feel remotely safe while on the isles during this time had gone and bit her in the butt. She really needed to learn to better consider Luz’s own magical prowess better in the future. 

Luz’s voice broke Eda out of her thoughts. “So if I can’t temper my magic, do you think this idea’s a bust then?”

Eda didn’t miss the disappointment in Luz’s voice, but decided being honest was probably the better solution. “Maybe, it’s hard to tell when you’re dealing with a near lost ancient form of magic.” Even with what they had found out over the past several months, there was still so much they weren’t able to understand about the glyph magic. “But I don’t think we should give up yet. Let me take a second crack at the books to see if I can’t find something.”

* * *

“Still no luck with the glyphs?” Willow asked a couple of hours later.

Luz and her were currently talking again. The rest of their little group hadn’t joined in yet, and Luz guessed they had got caught up in their own Light Day antics. Though admittedly they  _ were  _ a bit early.

Luz and Eda had tried a few more things to see if controlling her magic might help with the little problem. But it either hadn’t worked or had already been shown ineffective in the past. So Eda had ordered her to put away the notebook for now, and they would get back to it later. And now, with nothing else really to do, she had called Willow.

Right now it was just the two of them. Technically, their normal call time wasn’t for another hour, so Amity and Gus weren’t in on the chat quiet yet.

Luz pouted at the reminder. “No, everything I try results in the same result.” She pouted even more if possible. “I just don’t get what I’m doing wrong.”

“Maybe you’re just looking at it from the wrong angle?” Willow suggested. Though honestly, she wasn’t sure either. “Magic types can vary greatly so it’s not exactly surprising that what worked with the plants isn’t working here. Maybe you should look at a different element?”

“But just how many other kind elements are there?!” Luz questioned in annoyed exasperation.

“I’m not sure to be honest.” Willow admitted with a frown. While she had helped Luz figure out to a degree how to get the flowers to change colors. Changing lights was apparently a whole other ball game. “But knowing you, you’ll figure it out somehow.”

“Thanks for the faith, Willow.” Even if Luz herself wasn’t entirely sure, it was well served. “Anyway, what is it you wanted to show me?” Luz asked, desperate for some sort of distraction from her failed attempts at making other colored lights. 

Willow hesitated at that. “Well, I’m not sure you’ll want to see it now if you’re still so frustrated with the light glyph issue.” 

“That just makes me more curious, Willow, not less.” Luz said slightly leaning forward in her seat. Now more eager to know than ever.

“So after seeing you messing around with the glyphs, I decided I wanted to make some decorations of my own. So I made this.” Willow held up what Luz could now see was a wreath.

“Oh, you made a wreath?” Luz asked, feeling a bit confused. Wondering if this was something about the isles she was missing again. 

Willow couldn’t help but give a small laugh at the confusion. “I’m going to guess wreaths don’t have the same meaning in the human realm?” 

“Maybe? I mean, we have wreaths back home, but I’m not sure what the meaning behind them is. Or even if they have a meaning to be honest.” Luz admitted. The meaning behind the decorations hadn’t been something she had really overly thought about in the past, if she was being completely honest. It wasn’t something she had put much thought about at all before coming to the Isles, where it seemed like everything about the Isles had some other meaning at times. “I know Eda’s got one over the fireplace, but I didn’t think to ask about it.”

Willow nodded at that. “Yeah, everyone is expected to have one this time of year. Even Amity’s parents, for all their huffing and muttering about the holiday used to hang them. Here on the Isles at least it’s supposed to represent the cycle of life. Some people keep theirs up year around, but at this time of the year it takes on a whole new meaning with the endless nights so that’s why it’s tradition to hang them.” She glanced down at the wreath. “We already have one, of course, but seeing you making your own decorations made me want to make my own.”

“Wow, and I thought with the way Eda reacted that they did literally nothing.” Luz said, surprised that the Blight parents had actually done something that remotely resembled celebrating the holiday. 

Willow paused, thinking about the holidays or lack thereof in the Manor from before her and Amity had their first falling out. “They really don’t in the grand scheme of things. Doing the wreath is the absolute bare minimum for celebrating Light Day, if you can even call it that.”

“Yeah, I got that impression.” Luz said, remembering back to some of Eda’s grumblings about the Blights. “I guess I’m just surprised they did anything to begin with.”

“Yeah well we should probably drop it since it looks like Amity is about to join.” Willow said glancing at an icon on the ball’s lower left.

In general, it was agreed that unless absolutely needed, none of them talked about the elder Blights around Amity. Amity’s parents were still a touchy subject around the girl and her siblings. And while sometimes the subject couldn’t be entirely avoided, especially when old memories got dragged up unbidden, in general the group tried to leave that topic as far in the past as possible.

“You’re unusually early.” Luz said with a smile as Amity’s pic popped up a moment later. Normally this time of day Amity and Lilith were off doing something with the apprenticeship. 

“Yeah, we’re actually taking a break today.” Amity admitted eyes glancing at something out of the view of the camera. “Lilith has some work she needs to do with the coven today, so she’s letting me work on my own projects.”

Luz tilted her head, slightly confused. “Not that I ever mind a call, but isn’t this not working on projects?”

“Well, actually it kind of is. I was originally calling you because I was wondering if you had any new progress with your glyph experiment?” Amity asked, motioning towards where she could see the edge of the notebook Luz used to sketch her glyphs in.

Luz shook her head at that. Annoyance creeping back into her voice again. “No. I wish. The stupid lights still aren’t doing what I want. But Willow was able to grow her own fancy wreath!”

It was Willow’s turn to flush red at the compliment. “It’s not exactly that fancy. I just weaved in some extra protection magic.”

Amity’s eyebrows shot up at that. Luz might not fully realize Willow was downplaying it, but she did. Titan only knew how long Lilith and her had worked on protection spells. She wondered when Willow had even picked them up. “Willow, that’s not exactly a  _ small  _ thing. That’s awesome you could do something like that.” 

Willow flushed even harder at that. “Aw shucks.” Cooling down after a minute, she asked curiously. “So why were you asking about our ornaments, anyway?” 

Amity flushed tomato red in embarrassment. “Well, I was trying to make something but…” She glanced at something below her and somehow turned a deeper shade of red. “It didn’t exactly work out.”

“Ooh, really? What were you trying to make your ornaments of?” Luz asked excitedly. “Let me see!”

Amity somehow turned an even brighter shade of red at that. “Well, I don’t have much to show for it right now.” Amity admitted, holding up a bauble of some sorts in view of the camera where they could see what looked like a small flame in the middle of it. “I keep having problems with the fire input.” She admitted. 

Not bothering or wanting to mention the half dozen glass baubles she had melted in her own attempt at making ornaments.

“That’s not too bad.” Willow tried to reassure her.

“This was the one good attempt.” Amity couldn’t help but deadpan. “I was having so many problems that Lilith has forced me to take a break. She thinks the issue is I’m getting too emotional, and it’s affecting the magic output negatively.” Amity explained in exasperation. Right now it felt like taking a break was just making her more upset if she was being honest…

Luz’s nose scrunched up in confusion. “Wait, why would your emotions affect the magic?”

Now it was Willow’s moment to be temporarily confused before she realized something. “Oh, right, I forgot that since you didn’t attend classes as a kid, you wouldn’t know this. But emotions can have a tremendous impact on a spell’s behavior and power.”

Luz stared down at the notebook in front of her for a moment as a thought suddenly occurred to her thanks to Willow’s explanation. And she bolted for the kitchen where she knew Eda was prepping lunch. “Eda! I’ve got an idea on how to fix my little issue!”

Eda looked up from her newest attempt to make cooking easier as Luz came in with her notebook of glyphs clutched in her hand. Having heard Luz well before, she had actually seen her. “Whatcha thinking kiddo?”

“Well, Willow told me that apparently emotions are tied to how magic behaves.” Luz explained nervously fidgeting with her hands. 

Eda quirked an eyebrow at the unmissable uncertainty in Luz’s voice. “Yep, that’s basic stuff. Not sure where you’re going with this.”

Luz flushed a bit at the comment. “Well, I didn’t know that since you never told me.” And it wasn’t like anyone at Hexside was going to be giving her remedial classes anytime soon. 

Eda scratched her cheek at that comment. “Oh, right, haha, I kinda forgot. Sorry, kiddo.” Really, with how easily Luz fit in on the Isles at times, it was a bit easy to forget she wasn’t born here. “Anyway, Willow is right in that aspect. Though I’m still not entirely sure how that ties into fixing your problem?”

“Well, I thought that maybe since emotions tie in magic, maybe I am focusing on the wrong thing to change? Maybe I need to be focusing on a particular emotion?” Luz explained her new found idea.

Eda frowned at that, thinking for a moment. “Well, I gotta admit I’ve never heard of magic behaving exactly like that before.” Emotions controlled the amount of power and control behind the spell. Less the appearance. This was definitely an unconventional approach to fixing Luz’s issue. But then again, when had they done anything conventional? “But it’s worth a shot, definitely. Worst that can happen is we end up with more yellow balls of light.”

With how little they still understood about how glyph magic, even after all of these months, actually worked, it couldn’t be entirely dismissed outright, that was for certain.

“So how do we do this?” Luz asked, looking up at Eda. “How do you guys get magic to play with emotions normally?”

“Eh,” Eda scratched her cheek. “I don’t think we ever really think about it until it gets in the way of magic. So I don’t think Lily or I are going to be any help here to be honest kiddo.”

In general, the only time she had to think about how emotions played into magic was when she was getting really frustrated at something. Most other emotions and how they played into it just came second nature. It, like a lot of things, just came naturally and until Luz came into her life she had never really given it a second thought. 

Eda thought for a moment before continuing. Trying to think how best to give advice in an area that she at times, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, didn’t always fully understand. “Really, the best thing I could think of is to focus on a memory with powerful emotions attached to it. Like your first date with Amity. Hopefully, the emotions and the strength of them attached to it will help do the trick.”

First date...Luz frowned for a moment. At first not sure what technically classified as a first date. Despite her and Amity’s continued denial at the time of GROM. It really could be classified as their first date. But she doubted that was what Eda was referring to. 

She and Amity had been together for around three months now. Once their parents weren’t so much of an issue, dating hadn’t nearly been as intimidating as it had been back during summer. Well, once Amity had finally asked that was. 

Luz guessed that their first real proper date had been when they had gone to the festival to celebrate the fall equinox. It had been a fun afternoon of antics and carnival games. Luz’s lips quirked for a second in a smile as she remembered showing Amity a trick she had picked up the last time the carnival had been in town. 

It had all been going great right up until Tibbles had shown up. Really, you would think after the first two incidents with him he would have figured out that maybe antagonizing Eda wasn’t the smartest of ideas. 

However, with the memory and everything else associated with it came a reminder. Of why Luz simply didn’t spend a ton of time reflecting in general. It could get really overwhelming, really, really fast for her. 

She didn’t even realize she was really panicking from all the overload of all the senses and emotions with the memory until Eda had wrapped her in a hug. “Shit, I should have seen this coming.” Eda berated herself under her breath, though Luz still heard her. 

Eda felt dumb not thinking of this. Of course, trying this would lead to that. This was part of the reason Luz couldn’t meditate. For her, at least, it caused more problems than anything else. 

“I’m okay now.” Luz managed a moment later as the feelings finally subsided and she could reassure a, trying not to panic herself, Eda.

“You sure? That didn’t look pleasant, kiddo.” Eda said still internally berating herself for not seeing this coming. 

Between the wolf's sense and everything else Luz had going on. This wasn’t the first time Eda had seen Luz have issues with too much sensory input. Among other things they’re failed attempts at meditation were a great example of it. And why partly this had failed. Really should have seen that potential issue coming, and Eda felt kind of dumb for not thinking of it first.

Luz nodded. “Really, I’m fine now. Sorry about that.” Feeling bad for possibly panicking her mentor.

“Kid, there’s no reason to apologize. I’m not the one that got overwhelmed.” Eda reminded her. “Anyway, this looks like it’s a bust. Let’s take a break for now and let me see if I can’t find anything to solve our little mystery in the meantime.”

However, just as Eda said that, Luz had a new idea occur to her. Maybe this was the solution, but Luz was simply going about it the wrong way. “Wait. I’ve got another idea. Can I just try one more time?  _ Please, _ Eda?”

Eda hesitated. To be honest, she was reluctant to try the same method after Luz had so obviously been overwhelmed the first time. However, she always had a hard time saying no to the kid. “Alright one more time but after that we’re done.” At least for now. Part of her really thought Luz might be on the right track, but if they kept going, they were going to possibly circle back around to the original problem in the first place. So if they didn’t crack it, it was time for a break and for her to maybe pull out some books on magical theory. And hopefully find something that wouldn’t overwhelm Luz nearly as much. “Understood?”

Luz nodded eagerly again before picking up the paper with the glyph to take one more shot at it. Before she had been overly focusing on the memory itself, but that obviously hadn’t worked. However, Eda’s suggestion of using a memory had sprung a lightbulb in her. Maybe it wasn’t the memory itself she needed to be focusing on, but rather a powerful emotion attached to the memory? Rather, maybe she needed to focus on the emotion first and let the strongest memory associated with that come second?

Either way, it was hopefully a less overwhelming solution than the first one. 

Trying to focus again, she attempted to gravitate towards an emotion. Her first instinct was to go towards happiness. She had plenty of happy memories from her time on the isles, after all. But something told her that would probably just result in more of the same. So rather her mind shifted towards one she had found a lot of both on and off the Isles, loyalty. 

Loyalty was nothing new to her. Her family was extremely loyal to one another. However, the loyalty she had found on the Isles. With her first real friends, her first girlfriend. Heck, her family away from home. 

So with all the loyalty she had found, it made sense to pick it for her second attempt to get the light glyph to change colors. At least for her it did.

A small gasp from Eda alerted her to something that had definitely happened. And when Luz’s eyes flew open she was greeted by a ball of light, but unlike her previous attempts it was glowing a brilliant blue in contrast to the normal sight of vibrant yellow. 

Luz couldn’t help the small excited squeal that went through her lips. It had finally worked. It might not have been the first color she would have picked, but it really didn’t matter. They had finally cracked the mystery on why she couldn’t get the light glyph balls to change colors!

“Nice going, kiddo.” Eda said, giving her hair a ruffle. 

Luz beamed. “I can’t believe we figured it out. Oh, I can’t wait to show the others.”

“Speaking of that, weren’t you in a conversation with Willow before you came running?” Eda reminded her, raising an eyebrow.

Luz stared blankly for a second. Before beginning to panic as she realized she had done just that in her excitement. “Oh my god I completely forgot.” Almost taking off again back towards where she had left the crystal ball, only remembering her notebook at the last second. 

Eda chuckled as she watched Luz run back off. Hearing the girl apologizing to her friends a minute later. 

Glancing back at the floating ball of blue light, she wondered what exactly Luz was going to do next. She had a feeling there were going to be a lot more floating balls of lights in the next couple of hours, though, all of them different colors. Not that she could blame Luz for doing so. This was a breakthrough with her magic on a whole other level with understanding and working with magic. And part of Eda wondered what that would lead to in the future. 

A concern for another time, she supposed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap for today. Next chapter I'm not sure when I'll get it out. I still have to start writing it. But I'm hoping not nearly as long as the wait for this one. Partly the wait was a mix of other things and time needed to edit by Vis. (StarGirl is the main writer for this one)
> 
> Good news is that the series version of GROM should be coming soon. Its almost finished. Vis did the writing on that one. I'm just adding a few small things in and then it should be ready to go. And hopefully it won't be long to get that to you.
> 
> As always please remember to leave a comment. And thanks for reading!


	3. Plight of the Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The extra magic starts to catch up with Luz and she's dealt a difficult decision. Surpress her magic and deal with more difficult opinions from the family. Or continue on and have the wild magic make her sicker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. 
> 
> Not much to say here. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Update on plans on my end (StarGirl11) will be in the bottom notes.
> 
> Anyways enjoy the chapter and please remember to leave a comment.

Really in hindsight they probably should have seen this coming Eda realized as she stood in the doorway to Luz’s room.

Eda had known that Luz had been having some issues since the thirty nights had started. At first she was thinking the wolf was just having a hard time dealing with the unseen monsters lurking outside the front story.

Well that turned out to be partially true in the end she supposed. Fortunata had been on high alert after all in the beginning. But had settled down so Eda thought they were clear of any new problems. 

However a few days after discovering how to change the Light Glyph. Eda was left wondering if Luz had just been hiding things from her. Since when she had gone up to make sure the kid was up at a decent hour. She had found Fortunata spread out on the bed instead of human Luz. 

For the fifth time since the sun had set on the year. And they were only a week into the cycle.

This was starting to look less like an issue adjusting and more like something else was going on. Eda briefly remembered an entirely different issue back during summer. When the sun was on the opposite end of the cycle. Where it simply didn’t set for thirty days. 

Maybe this was the opposite of that problem? It would certainly explain the noticeable shift in the sleep cycle at least. Eda hadn’t entirely missed that the kid was sleeping irregularly again in short bursts vs the long siestas that had come with the issues that the summer had brought.

“Kid you alright in there?” 

Okay that wasn’t a good sign. The kid usually only moved that slowly and deliberately when she was having an exceptionally bad day.

“One of those days?”

Light growl in response. Yep it was definitely a bad day if the kid was bypassing a normal head bob. 

“Alright then do we need to call Althea?”

Eda was already thinking the answer to that was yes. And probably would be making the call in spite of Luz’s response if she knew the girl as well as she thought she did.

However, she wanted to give the kid a chance to read her own body herself before stepping in. 

Normally calling anyone over would be a bad idea. Just because her and Lily were doing it. Didn’t necessarily make it a great idea. 

However, if the kid was having that bad of an episode Althea would have to come. Most of the kid’s episodes were fairly mild, with a few exceptions. 

Which of course were when they needed Althea the most. Since the routine they had established around the ‘wild’ episodes involved Luz getting checked over by the healer. 

It was just rather unfortunate that this would happen now of all times. 

Luz’s hesitation was all the answer she needed. It was one of  _ those _ days, and a nastier one at that it looked like.

Well at least she didn’t flat out deny it she supposed. That was a marked improvement at the very least

“Alright I’ll go grab the ball and say she needs to come over. You know the routine kid.”

There was a slight whine in protest. Luz attempted to hoist herself to her feet only to come to a flop a second later hard against the mattress.

Eda winced, glad for the moment that Luz wasn’t lounging on the floor. Today apparently was a really bad day it looked like. “Kid just stay put before you actually hurt yourself. I’ll go get you some breakfast. And in the meantime, you need to transform back.”

* * *

“Thanks again for coming.”

As Eda had expected Althea hadn’t been without a way. Luz might be one of her more stressful patients. But it wasn’t like she could abandon them for thirty days straight.

No matter how much she was sure it stressed Lilith.

“It's not a problem. I kind of suspected that I might be getting the call eventually. Like I said I always prepare for the worse and hope for the best. And considering we had no clue how thirty days of no sunlight and magic being wilder than normal would impact her after all this isn’t that much of a shock. She’s the first human to reside on the Boiling Isles.”

“Well, it’s less her being a human and more the impact of the wolf curse I think,” Eda admitted. “But I’m glad you had the foresight nonetheless.”

Luz would have been disappointed if their plans had been impacted by this. In fact, knowing Luz she probably would have tried to get out of this if she thought that it meant Amity and Lilith couldn’t come to the reunion.

“The wolf curse?” Althea asked, looking surprised.

Apparently she had been thinking the problem would come from the other Luz related issue. 

“Yeah I noticed the kid had been having some trouble sleeping. Though I thought it was just to the adjustment of everything that came with this time of year.”

But then again that made little sense looking back. Luz had been so good adjusting prior that it didn’t make sense that now of all times she would have a major hiccup. Eda felt slightly dumb for not realizing it sooner that there could be more going on. 

Better late than never she supposed. But she felt bad that her kid had been hurting this entire time and hadn’t told her once. 

They really did need to work more on their communication skills sometime. 

“Hmm well I suppose it's that not much of a stretch when you consider that it’s magical in nature. Amity has been having her own problems sleeping. However that’s such a recurring problem with her and her curse that I don’t think Lilith and I had thought much about it being worse than normal until now.”

Well, at least Eda hadn’t been the only oblivious one then. Though she doubted that made either of them feel better about it.

“Any idea what’s causing the issues for the both of them?”

“Only speculation at this point. However, more than likely it's simply due to the flux of extra magic from the ‘other worlds’. Similar to what we saw over the summer but in reverse. So treatment shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out. However, if she’s that bad off it certainly doesn’t hurt to have her looked at.”

Opening up the bedroom door found Luz struggling with her shirt. Eda internally groaned at herself for not thinking to check on the kid earlier. 

Luz flushed in embarrassment. “I was having trouble with my shirt.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Eda asked as she helped pull the shirt down. It wasn’t like she had been doing anything when they had been waiting for Althea. 

This wasn’t the first song and dance for either of them. Eda had gotten used to Luz’s occasional ‘odd’ requests after finding out about the curse. 

“Sorry.” Luz muttered.

“You should have just hollered for me, kid.”

For someone who was always trying to help her. Luz sure could be resistant to asking for help sometimes. 

“Well the good news is that it's like I suspect and that it's just a case of extra magic in your system. And since I’ve been treating Amity already for the same problem I know what to do here. Though I wish one of you had contacted me sooner before you became so miserable.”

“Hey don’t look at me.”

If Eda had realized how bad it was earlier she definitely would have called Althea before now. Besides hadn’t she just said it had taken them a while to realize Amity’s extent of issues?

“I thought I could handle it.” Luz muttered.

“Regardless I’m here now. So I’ll give you some magic suppressants to start to help deal with the issue. We’ll-”

Luz couldn’t avoid the pout entirely tuning out the next part that was directed more at Eda than her. She didn’t like magic suppressants. Even if they had a good purpose.

All of a sudden her stomach dropped out. The reunion. It was only two weeks away. This could cause major problems.

Eda caught her panicking face. “Kid you alright?”

“The reunion. If I show up at the reunion not being able to transform, I’m scared how people will react.”

What would the rest of the family say if she couldn’t become Fortunata?

Luz knew it really shouldn’t matter what the rest thought. She was only around them a couple of days a year after all. That it was probably better that if they went on something to help with just how much she was reacting to the night magic. 

However, that was easier said than done. She was already the family freak to some members.

Maybe most prominently, Luz was worried about any progress that had been made with the rest of the family. It might go away if she didn’t show some form of ‘normalcy’ at the winter reunion. 

Sure Mami had assured her that things would be different this time. Luz was going to see it when she finally saw it herself.

Eda frowned at that. “Kid, no one is going to hold it against you if you can’t transform.”

“You don’t know that.” Luz argued. “The only family member you’ve met is Mami.”

Eda muttered something under her breath. But Luz wasn’t really paying attention since she didn’t have final say on how this was going to go. Althea did.

“So?”

“I suppose we could start on a lower dose and work our way up.” Althea reluctantly conceded. “Though you need to understand that might mean the medicine is less effective and will take longer to help you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Having a family member in medicine meant you were at least slightly aware how this kind of thing worked. “But I would much rather do it this way.”

If it meant the family didn’t react poorly again she would deal with it.

* * *

Eda hadn’t waited long after Althea had left to confront Luz about the medicine. Or rather Luz’s reaction to the medicine and the rest of the family. “Hey what brought this on? I thought we were getting somewhere with you and the curse?”

This felt like it was backtracking to Eda. Had she missed some new issue with the kid?

Luz shifted slightly. Obviously hesitant to explain what was on her mind. Eda frowned. “Kid I would rather you tell me what’s bothering you then burying it.”

Luz still hesitated for a moment before finally admitting. “It's just... the family reunion is coming up.”

“Yeah, you said that before. But spell me confused, because I thought you had worked out the whole thing of being scared about how your pack was going to hurt you for telling us about your curse?”

“We did. But that wasn’t the only issue.”

Ah.

“Do you want to talk about it or would you rather call your Mom?” Eda asked after a moment. 

She hated that this was yet another area she couldn’t help Luz with all that much. She hated seeing her kid being this hurting and this self-conscious over something she couldn’t control.

Something that wasn’t her own fault. 

And something that Eda felt like the help she could give didn’t amount to much.

“I’m not sure to be honest. I well can you maybe just listen? I just want to talk. And I love Mami but I don’t know if she’ll fully get it.”

Eda got her on a level that most of the family didn’t, that Mami despite how much she loved her, didn’t. Eda got what it was like to be shunned by some of your family over something you couldn’t control. Mami, for all that she loved Luz, didn’t always fully understand that. 

Sure she understood better now. The GROM incident had been a much needed wake up call on that front. But Eda with her own curse and family issues sometimes understood far better.

“Sure kid. But wasn’t the whole thing with GROM about you trying to be more open with her about your worries with the pack? Not telling her about the winter reunion concerns is the opposite of that kiddo.”

“I mean it's not like we’ve been sharing half of what’s been going on the last week or so.” 

Eda shut her mouth there. Shit the kid had a point. There had been an unspoken agreement to just not talk to Camila about what the thirty nights were actually like. Not until they got through it and Camila saw Luz could handle it.

Though knowing their luck Camila would find out somehow at the family reunion. Like how she had found out about half of Luz’s early antics on the Isles because the kid insisted on documenting every-shit. “Kid how much about this time of year have you sent to your mother?”

Luz stared at her in confusion for a moment. “Nothing that we haven’t talked about, why?”

“Okay new question, do you still have that spell on your phone turned on that sends your mother whatever you record?”

Luz paused for a moment frowning in uncertainty before pulling her phone out. “Bedknobs and Broomsticks!”

“Language kid.” Though really it wasn’t like she was one to talk.

“Sorry.”

“Eh just don’t say it around your mother. She already thinks I’m a bad influence. I’ll take that as a yes to my question though.”

Luz nodded. “Yeah. Eda what are we going to do? What if Mom insists I come home?”

“Well apparently she’s already taken it better if she hasn’t tried to drag you back to Earth yet. So we might be in the clear. But I think it's probably better we call her now. Rather than wait around. You feeling up to that conversation?” 

“Yeah, I guess.”   
  
Well that was a reluctant agreement. But Eda would take it over an argument she supposed. 

* * *

“Just because it can be a side effect doesn’t mean it will. I’ve told you this before Mija. Besides we’re talking about a multi generational curse. One that arguably possibly runs strongest with you. I doubt that potion will fully stop your ability to transform.”

“But what if it does? The family reunion is coming up. I don’t want to be even more of the family freak.”

Camila frowned at that. “Luz we talked about this.”

“I know we did. And I know you said that they changed. But what’s going to stop things from going back to normal. Who’s going to stop Debbie?” Luz’s voiced cracked slightly at the end.

Eda wasn’t sure who this Debbie was. But if this lady kept hurting her kid she was probably going to get a good whack upside the head with Owlbert. 

Meanwhile Luz was trying to think of a way that she for sure would know things would go right. And failing to do so. 

Her Uncle Miguel was the head of the pack. And he should be able to put a stop to this. However, Uncle Miguel had only really been minimal help in past years. Sure Mami said he would be more proactive this time. However, years of family experience were hard to erase.

“Well if she tries something like she did last year I am going to be reading Miguel the riot act among other things.” Camila grumbled more to herself than to either Luz or Eda. “Mija if it really stops you from transforming then I'll deal with the rest of the family. Or we can talk about you skipping this year if that concerns you this much. Don’t put yourself through something you don’t have too just for the sake of the rest of the family.”

Luz had a startled deer in the headlight look. “You really would let me skip?”

“If it ends up helping you in the long run, yes. I meant what I said, I don’t want you to sacrifice your health for the sake of the rest of the family.” Camila assured her. “Mija remember what we always say.”

“ _ Nosotros ante ellos.”  _ Luz muttered a phrase to herself. 

Us before them. The pack motto was usually in reference to protecting their own against the outside world. In other words the pack always came before the rest of society.

It was odd to hear the pack motto used in that frame of reference. However, she supposed with all the issues that had spun off from the pack, it did make sense here considering what they were talking about. 

If her Mami was using it here that meant she was serious. Maybe things would actually be okay.

“Alright I’ll try the higher dose.” Luz conceded finally.

If she didn’t necessarily have to deal with the family then she didn’t have anything to lose. 

“Good girl.”

“Now we should probably talk about the fact you and Eda were hiding things from me again.”

There was a collective gulp at that.

* * *

One long lecture, a ball call, and a higher dose of meds later and Luz was looking the best Eda had seen her since the nights had begun. Really, if she was being honest, probably the best in weeks. 

Eda wondered if Luz realized she might have already made the decision involving the reunion yet or not. If just how much more relaxed Luz was at the idea of not having to attend the reunion was any indication. The kid probably was just operating under the illusion of not having made a decision. 

If only because it was something she understood all too well herself.

“You smell different.” 

Luz blinked at King’s statement. Well she guessed that wasn’t too surprising. Didn’t Mami say that medicine could affect how someone smelled? “Oh well I did just start that medicine.” 

“Nah it's not that. Eda has that smell too in the background. This is different” 

Luz exchanged a surprised look with Eda. She didn’t realize that King could already smell that. 

Though that did raise the question of how King hadn’t figured out either of their curses beforehand.

“Well I’m not sure how to help then. I can’t exactly transform to find out.”

Luz had never been able to smell her own scent. And even if she had Althea had put her under strict orders to not transform for a few days until they knew how well the medicine would impact both her and Fortunata. 

Hopefully whatever it was didn’t stink too much for King.

“Hey, I never said it was a  _ bad _ smell. Just different.”

That was slightly reassuring though it didn’t help much in figuring out the mystery.

“Well stop keeping us in suspense King. What is it you smell?”

“That’s the thing, it's not what I’m smelling as much as what I’m not. Luz always had this small tint of sulfur underneath the lemony sweet taste of youthful optimism.”

Lemony sweet what now?

Eda didn’t even seem fazed as she asked. “And it's gone now?”

“Yeah. I noticed it was kind of fading away after you called your Mom on the box thing. But it only disappeared a few days ago.”

Oh. That’s what it was.

Well that explained a few things. Though it surprised her. She hadn’t even realized she was apparently completely stressed.

Though she guessed with her family relationship it wasn’t that much of a shock. She knew she had always had a hard time fitting in with the rest of the pack. That despite her best efforts she just never really connected with any of them, even the ones who were nice to her. And the bigger family reunions brought on a myriad of emotions, not all of which were positive. 

She just hadn’t realized that it was impacting her that much. 

Luz guessed that now that Mami would support her in spite of the pack. Things had changed. Sure she still was worried and unsure about the reunion. But just the chance to not have to deal with it for once. Was making all the world to her. 

* * *

A couple of days later Althea cleared her to try and transform into Fortunata again. To Luz’s initial relief and happiness she was able to do it without problem.

However once the initial relief had passed. Dread started to creep in. 

Mami’s condition of skipping the reunion had been based on her not being able to transform. Something Luz had honestly kind of started to look forward too. Now that she had it back she was afraid the reunion was back on the table.

And Luz honestly wasn’t sure what to think about that.

Sure Mami said the family had changed. Sure there were the members of the family that were better than others. But at the same time…

Last year had been one of the worst family experiences she had had to deal with. And she wasn’t in the mood to try that again.

Eda who was squarely in the ‘skip’ camp had at least tried to let her decide on her own. Though that didn’t mean she didn’t throw in her own advice occasionally. Especially after King’s revelation the other day. 

Though that hadn’t stopped her from entirely emparting some wisdom. “You and I both know that family shouldn’t cause that kind of stress. However, the real world doesn’t always work like that. If you really don’t want to go then your Mom hopefully won’t make you. And if she does for some reason I can always get creative in hiding the door.”

“Thanks Eda.”

Though she pretty much knew that her decision to attend would be dedicated by her Mami no matter what Eda said. There would probably be more difficult things to deal with if she skipped without her Mami’s approval. 

She just needed to address this with her she supposed. 

* * *

It took a bit to work up the courage to call her mother about it. And once she did she was so nervous that she nearly rushed out the question. “Hey Mami were you serious when you said I could skip the reunion?’

Luz did not miss the fact that her mother didn’t sound remotely surprised when she replied. “Of course. I’m guessing you've made a decision dealing with the medicine?”

“Oh, no actually the medicine works without impacting it! I can still transform. I just.” Luz cut herself off there. Nervously toying with a loose strand of hair unsure what to say. Nervous what her Mami will think of not wanting to go to the reunion. “I just don't know if I want to deal with it again.”

“Ah.”

“Look I know you said that things would be different. But all I can think of is what Debbie said the last time.”

Her uncle’s wife had never particularly been fond of her. But things had reached a fever pitch the last winter reunion. Where Luz had been left to deal with her for an unfortunate ten minutes, alone. What had felt like the longest ten minutes of her life at the time.

Sure she had the others now. The sting of the words that Debbie had spewed might still hurt. But at least they weren’t as true anymore. 

Even considering that...

“I just don’t know if I can deal with that again.”

Luz could hear her mother humming in the background. Something she tended to when she was thinking. At first there was no response and then finally. “Maybe it would be better to see the reactions on a smaller scale anyway to see if anyone actually changed. If that's okay with you?”

Luz let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding. “Thank you. And I'll need to think about it I think.”

Things might be better being at an event without the worst instigators. But Luz was still worried that somehow things wouldn’t change even then. 

“We have time.” Her mother agreed. “In the meantime I still want us to get together for the holidays though.”

Luz blinked in surprise. “Your skipping the reunion as well?”

“No. I think I need to make a point to talk to your Uncle Miguel about all this. So I'll still be going.”

“So  _ what _ then?”

Their version of the holidays had always revolved around family gatherings and the winter solstice. Outside of school they had never even really done Christmas. This was uncharted territory for the both of them.

“Hmmm what do you say to breaking a few old pack traditions and doing something a bit more traditional for Christmas this year?”

* * *

The full impact of the conversation didn’t sink in until a few hours later for Luz. 

Sure some of it had hit at first. The fact that her mother wouldn’t force a conversation between her and the rest of the relatives was a relief. That wasn’t what had taken her back.

The fact that she hadn’t doubled down on forcing her to get back together with the rest of the family. Was the part that had only hit later. And the full consequences of what wasn’t being said at the same time.

Her Mami was indirectly saying that if she wanted to she didn’t have to go to the pack. That if she really wanted to she didn’t have to continue putting up with the behavior.

It was wild. It was something Luz had honestly not considered. And part of her wondered where this might be coming from. Leaving the pack felt extreme and honestly in spite of all the issues, Luz wasn’t even entirely sure she wanted that. 

Sure. She had better pack ties here on the Isles it felt like at times than back home. But they were still family. She couldn’t just split off no matter what they had done in the past. 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap for today. Slighlty less Christmasy this chapter. We'll get back to that with the next one (Light Day chapter should be up next unless I surprise myself). But I wanted to address some things and possible realities of the entire scenario we've got here.
> 
> Also addressing a question I'm sure some people have: is the reunion in LNGL still going to happen?  
> The winter reunion as seen in LNGL won't happen, not like that anyway. That will still be a basis for another standalone story later on. But since we're skipping the winter reunion entirely that's getting punted to a later point and several things will be changing as a result. 
> 
> Don't worry I haven't forgotten about Debbie. She's still due for her comeuppance and I promise the story with that is coming. 
> 
> Right now personally my (StarGirl11) next fic update that I know for sure will be LNGL since that has the last isolation chapter complete. 
> 
> I am taking part in r/fanfiction's trope bingo which I'm not using a strict schedule for mainly because to do it I have to do it within a certain time. So that won't stick to the 'only Fridays' schedule I have for everything else while its going on. 
> 
> Anyways that's it for now. Please leave a comment letting me know your guys thought. I live on feedback even if its the smallest amount. Its really hard to tell how you guys like this fic when I don't get any.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah this is an actual multi chapter story. Hopefully the next chapter will be up in the next day or two.
> 
> Since I know some of you are wondering who the Reyes are. We are going to get around to formally introducing them eventually. For now with it being a minor appearance to set the stage. Just know they're important people for the time being. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment below.
> 
> A quick update as far as LNGL and Hexside Caper.
> 
> LNGL won't be updated while I'm working on this. I do have the next chapter started but getting sick kind fo derailed everything because yeah no energy. 
> 
> Hexside Caper I'm probably going to lock after the new year. I am planning to rework/rewrite the thing to incorporate it into this AU after realizing it works really well in here for various reasons. So if you really liked the current version and don't want to lose it forever you have 11 days to save it somewhere.


End file.
